DetNews.com – Deb Price
D r. Dana has a prescription for you.
The 54-year-old former eye surgeon believes the glut of lawyers in state legislatures leads to too many chest-thumping confrontations and too little teamwork on such critical things as expanding access to health care, creating incentives for driving environment-friendly cars, boosting the minimum wage and ensuring equality for all. Teachers, engineers, architects and, yes, doctors are what’s needed to air out chambers filled with stale ideas, she says.
And so, when her local delegate in Chevy Chase, Md., announced he was running instead for state Senate, “Dr. Dana,” as she introduces herself to voters, jumped into a crowded field.
The contest for one Maryland House seat normally wouldn’t attract national attention. But this seat is special: It’s being vacated by Richard Madaleno, the first openly gay non-incumbent elected to the Maryland House.
Heavily favored to win in November, Madaleno’s poised to become the state’s first openly gay state senator. And if Dana Beyer wins, she’ll be the first transgender lawmaker in any state legislature.
“When I transitioned three years ago, I found myself, my voice and my cause. I have an opportunity to give back to the people who have laid the groundwork for me,” the progressive Democrat explains of her leap into politics.
While transgender Americans are increasingly being welcomed in workplaces, faith communities and social circles, politics is still relatively new territory. New Zealand and Italy each have a transgender member of parliament. In our country, Michelle Bruce, who sits on the Riverdale, Ga., city council, and Jessica Orsini, on the Board of Aldermen in Centralia, Mo., are among the groundbreaking transgender politicians.